Nguyen Khanh - Junta Infighting

Junta Infighting

Khánh's concessions sparked opposition from Khiêm and Thiệu, both Catholic. They tried to remove him in favour of Minh, and they recruited many officers into their plot. Khiêm and Thiệu sought out Taylor and sought a private endorsement for a coup against Khánh, however the U.S. ambassador did not want any more changes in leadership, fearing a corrosive effect on the government. This deterred Khiêm's group from staging a coup.

The division among the generals came to a head at a meeting of the MRC on 26/27 August. Khánh claimed that the government instability was due to troublemaking by Đại Việt members, whom he accused of putting partisan plotting ahead of the national interest and the struggle against the communists. Khiêm blamed Khánh's weakness in dealing with Buddhist activists as the reason for the demonstrations in the cities and the rural losses against the communists. Thiệu and General Nguyễn Hữu Có, also a Catholic, called for the replacement of Khánh with Minh, but the latter refused. Minh reportedly claimed that Khánh was the only one who would get funding from Washington, so they support him, prompting Khiêm to angrily declare that "Obviously, Khánh is a puppet of the US government, and we are tired of being told by the Americans how we should run our internal affairs". Feeling under pressure after the condemnations of his colleagues, Khanh said that he would resign. However no remedy was formulated and another meeting was convened.

After more arguing between the senior officers, they agreed that Khánh, Minh, and would rule as a triumvirate for two months, until a new civilian government could be formed. The trio then brought paratroopers into Saigon to end the rioting. However, the triumvirate did little else due to the lack of unity in the ruling triumvirate. Khánh dominated the decision-making and sidelined Khiêm and Minh. He also released many of the rioters who had forced him to back down on his powergrab and liberalised the press after more anti-government protests. U.S. military commander William Westmoreland deplored the concessions Khánh made to political opponents and began to lobby Washington to allow him to attack North Vietnam, saying that Khánh could not survive. He gained some support among Johnson's advisors, but the president resisted the pressure.